Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations

Democratic Party Strategists Formulate Health Law Plan For Campaign Season

The party is seeking to neutralize GOP candidates' ability to use the health overhaul to their advantage.

Politico: Dems' New 2014 Plan: Neutralize Obamacare
Democrats know their biggest problem in this year's midterm election is Obamacare. So top party operatives have settled on a strategy to try blunting the GOP's advantage: Tell voters Republicans would make the problem worse. ... The battle plan, details of which were in a memo obtained by POLITICO, recognizes the unpopularity of the Affordable Care Act. But it also banks on voter fatigue with the GOP’s relentless demands for repeal and counts on poll-backed data that show many Americans would rather fix Obamacare’s problems than scrap it altogether (Hohmann, 2/16).

The New York Times: On Health Act, Democrats Run To Mend What G.O.P. Aims To End
As Democrats approach the 2014 midterm elections, they are grappling with an awkward reality: Their president's health care law — passed almost entirely by Democrats — remains a political liability in many states, threatening their ability to hold on to seats in the Senate and the House. As a result, party leaders have decided on an aggressive new strategy to address the widespread unease with the health care law, urging Democratic candidates to talk openly about the law’s problems while also offering their own prescriptions to fix them (Parker, 2/16).

Both parties often use stories of "real people" to make their points. But sometimes that can backfire, The New York Times reports -

The New York Times: In The Debate Over Health Care, 'Real People' Become Human Volleyballs
The "real people" political prop is a durable ingredient in politics, first popularized at the State of the Union address when Ronald Reagan invited Lenny Skutnik, who had dived into the icy Potomac River to rescue victims of a plane crash, to serve as an example of Everyman heroism. It is a trope that every president since has used. But with the continuing fight over the Affordable Care Act, it has become a blood sport for both parties. Every real face is fact-checked, every perceived distortion attacked. And real people have been caught in the crossfire (Weisman, 2/15).

Politico: Barack Obama: You Can Call It 'Obamacare'
It may not be polling well, but President Barack Obama isn't too worried about the Affordable Care Act's nickname, Obamacare, or the health care law's impact on his legacy. "I like it. I don't mind," the president told former NBA star Charles Barkley in an interview that aired Sunday about the term Obamacare (DelReal, 2/17).

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